Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address during interaction with beneficiaries of SVAMITVA scheme in Madhya Pradesh
The confidence and the trust in the villages created by the SVAMITVA scheme is clearly visible in the conversation with the beneficiaries and I am seeing it here as well. You have shown your bamboo chairs but my eyes are fixed on the enthusiasm of the people. With so much love and blessings from the people, I can clearly imagine the welfare benefits of this scheme on the people. The experiences shared in detail by the colleagues with whom I got an opportunity to interact show that this scheme is emerging as a powerful force. It has become easier for people to get loans from banks after the launch of the SVAMITVA scheme.
My colleagues from the Union Cabinet, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar ji, Virendra Kumar ji, Dharmendra Pradhan ji, Jyotiraditya Scindia ji, Prahlad Singh Patel ji, Faggan Singh Kulaste ji, Kapil Moreshwar Patil ji, L. Murugan ji, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji, ministers, MPs and MLAs of the MP government, other dignitaries and brothers and sisters from thousands of villages in different areas of the MP, including Hadra.
At the outset, my best wishes to Kamal ji on his birthday. As we see on TV  that MP is amazing. MP is not only amazing, but is also the pride of the country. MP also has the speed and also has the desire to develop. As soon as a scheme is formulated in the interest of the people, Madhya Pradesh works hard for its early implementation. Whenever I hear it and see it, I feel very happy and it is a matter of satisfaction for me that my colleagues do such a great job.
Friends,
In the initial phases, the Pradhan Mantri SVAMITVA Yojana was implemented in some villages of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Property cards are ready for about 22 lakh families living in the villages of these states. Now it is being expanded to other states of the country as well. In a way, it was a pilot project so that there are no shortcomings in the plan in the future. Now it has been expanded all over the country. As usual, Madhya Pradesh has implemented it at a fast pace and deserves congratulations.Today more than 1.70 lakh families received property cardsin 3,000 villages of MP which will become a vehicle of prosperity for them.These people can also download their property cards on their mobile phones through DigiLocker. I congratulate all the people who have put in efforts for this and are working wholeheartedly. I also congratulate and offer my best wishes to the all the beneficiaries. The speed with which Madhya Pradesh is progressing, I believe that all the rural families of the state will get the property rights records soon.
Brothers and sisters,
We often hear that the soul of India resides in villages. But decades after independence, the enormous potential of the Indian villages was tied down. The villagers could not fully utilize the capability of their villages, land and houses for their development. On the contrary, they had to face so many problems regarding disputes over land and houses and court cases besides fights over illegal occupation of land. It was a waste of both time and money. And this is not a present-day concern. Gandhiji had also expressed this concern in his time. It should be our responsibility to change this situation. I have been working in this direction since I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. We started 'Samaras Gram Panchayat' campaign in Gujarat to tackle this problem. I have seen that if the right effort is made, the entire village takes it forward. A short while ago, Shivraj ji informed us that I am completing 20 years of this responsibility today. When Shivraj ji was referring to that, I remember when I became the Chief Minister for the first time, my first big program was also Garib Kalyan Mela and I am happy that even on the last day of the 20thyear, I am associated with the program for the poor. This is probably a divine sign that I continue to get the privilege of serving the poor of my country. I am sure that the SVAMITVA scheme will also become an example of Gram Swaraj with your participation. Recently we have seen how the villages of India worked together on a goal and fought this Corona pandemic with great vigilance. The villagers created a model. The villages of India have remained ahead as far as making separate living arrangements for people coming from outside, arrangements for food and work, or work related to vaccination. The wisdom of the villagers, to a great extent, saved the villages of India from Corona and that is why the people of all the villages of my country deserve to be congratulated. They molded all the rules in their own way, followed the rules, created awareness and also supported the government with great enthusiasm. I will never forget villages for helping save this country.
Friends,
Many big organizations of the world also say that the financial capacity of those citizens in a country is always less and becomes weakened if they don’t have property papers.Absence of property papers is a worldwide problem. It is not discussed much but it is a huge challenge for developed countries as well.
Friends,
Be it the construction of schools, hospitals, storage facilities, roads, canals, food processing industries, land is needed for every such system. But when the record itself is not clear, such development works take years. This anomaly has had a detrimental effect on the development of the villages of India. It is very important to end this uncertainty and mistrust as far as village property, land and house records are concerned. That's why PM SVAMITVA Yojana is going to be a huge pillar of strength for our brothers and sisters of the villages. We know how much peace there is when you have a right over something.Sometimes you must have noticed that if you are travelling in a train and you have a ticket but do not have a reservation, you are constantly worried that anytime you will have to get down and go to another compartment, but if you have a reservation, then you can sit comfortably. It does not matter even if any chevalier or a rich person comes, you can rightfully say that you have this reservation and you will sit here. This is the power of your right. The power that has come in the hands of the people of the villages today is going to have far-reaching consequences. I am happy that Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a leading state in land digitizationunder the leadership of Shivraj ji. Madhya Pradesh is doing commendable work in every aspect whether expanding the scope of digital records or the quality of records.
Friends,
The SVAMITVA Yojana is not just a scheme to provide legal documents, but it is also a new mantra for development and confidence in the villages of the country with the help of modern technology. The ‘Udan Khatola'  that is flying in villages, which some people calla small helicopter, is going to give a new flight to the villages of India. Drones are taking maps of houses scientifically,marking the property without any discrimination. So far, drones have completed this work in about 60 districts of the country. This will also help the Gram Panchayats to improve the Gram Panchayat Development Plan due to accurate land records and GIS maps.
Brothers and sisters,
The benefits of SVAMITVA Yojana that are visible today are part of a much bigger campaign which is to make the villages and the poor self-reliant and financially strong. And just now we heard Pawan ji, how much emboldened he has become in three months.He had his own house, but there were no papers. Now that papers are there, his life has changed. Despite the immense potential of our villagers, they have been having trouble with the initial resources, a kind of launching pad! If they had to build a house, then there was a problem of home loan.If they had to start a business then there was a problem of capital. If they wanted to expand farming, try a new crop, buy a tractor or any other equipment, then there was the problem of money to start that too. In the absence of property papers, they would not get loans easily from banks.The villagers of India were compelled to take loans from people outside the banking system. I have seen the pain when a poor person had to beg somebody even for petty work.The ever growing interest would become the biggest tension of his life. His problem was that he had no option but to ask for a loan from a third person. And that person could fleece the poor person as much because he was compelled. I want to bring the poor and youth of the villages of the country out of this vicious circle. The SVAMITVA scheme is a very important basis for this. Once the villagers have the property cards, they are going to get loans easily from the banks. In our conversation with the beneficiaries just now, we heard how a property card has helped them in getting a loan from the bank.
Friends,
Look at the efforts and schemes of our government for the last 6-7 years, we have tried that the poor does not have to beg from any third personand he has to bow his head in shame. Today, money is being sent directly to the bank accounts of farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi for their small farming needs. As far as small farmers are concerned, whose blessings are always with me, we have put all our efforts for their rights. I believe 80 out of 100 farmers are small farmers and who were paid scant attention. There was concern only for a handful of farmers. And when my small farmers will become strong, no one can weaken my country again. Despite the Corona era, we have also given Kisan Credit Cards to more than two crore farmers through a campaign. Animal husbandry and fisheries have also been linked to this. The purpose is that they get money from banks when needed and they do not have to go to anyone else. The Mudra Yojana has also given a great opportunity to the people to start their enterprises by taking loans from banks without any guarantee. Under this scheme, about 29 crore loans have been given in the last six years. An amount of about Rs 15 lakh crores has reached the people under the Mudra scheme. Rs. 15 lakh crores is not a small amount! Earlier they had to go to some third person for the same amount and they would get trapped in the vicious circle of higher interest.
Friends,
Our mothers and sisters, our women's power also play a big role in augmenting the economic capabilities of the villages of India. Today there are more than 70 lakh self help groups across the country with which about eight crore sisters are connected and they are working mostly in villages. These sisters have not only been linked with the banking system through the Jan Dhan accounts, but their loan amounts have also been increased without guarantee. Recently, the government made another important decision. Where earlier every self-help group used to get loans up to Rs 10 lakhs without guarantee, now this limit has been doubled i.e. from Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 20 lakhs.
Brothers and sisters,
Many companions of our villages go to the nearby cities and also work as street vendors. They have also been given the facilities to take loans from the bank through the PM SVANidhi Yojana. Today more than 25 lakh such friends have got loans from the banks. Now they also do not need to go to anyone else to pursue their work.
Friends,
If you look at all these schemes, the goal is that when there is a government and banks to give money, then the poor need not go to any other third party. That era is over when the poor had to make rounds of the government several times for every penny or every single thing. Now the government itself comes to the poor for their empowerment. You see, during the Corona era, when the problems became acute, the government itself came forward and ensured free food grains for more than 80 crore people. There should not be a single poor person in whose house the hearth does not burn. The contribution and hard work of farmers of Madhya Pradesh is also there in this regard. The government has spent about two lakh crore rupees to provide free food to the poor. The free treatment facility provided to the poor under the Ayushman Bharat scheme has saved 40,000 to 50,000 crores of rupees of the poor. Hundreds of crores of rupees of the poor have been saved from more than 8,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras where affordable medicines are available. We have saved crores of pregnant women and children from many diseases by adding new vaccines to Mission Indradhanush and vaccinating the maximum number of poor. All these efforts are saving money of the poor of the villages and taking them out of their compulsion and connecting them to the sky of possibilities. And I am surea new chapter of development will be written in the rural economy of India after the villagers are empowered under the SVAMITVA Yojana.
Friends,
It has been a tradition in India that modern technology first reaches the cities and then it reaches the villages. But today the country has worked to change this tradition. When I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, a beginning was made to put all the information related to land online. The e-Gram service was started so that the villages have access to the government through technology. Gujarat had also taken an initiative called Swagat to solve the problems of the people which is cited even today. Following the same mantra, the country is ensuring that the villages of India are enriched through the SVAMITVA Yojana and drone technology. Drone technology can do even the most difficult tasks accurately in the shortest possible time. Drones can easily move where humans cannot go. Apart from mapping the houses, drones are going to be very useful in making land records, survey and demarcation more effective and transparent across the country. The use of drones will now be widespread from mapping to disaster management, agricultural work and service delivery. You must have seen on TV and read in newspapers two days ago that corona vaccines were rapidly delivered by drones to areas in Manipur where humans take a long time to reach. Similarly, drones have been used for spraying urea in the fields in Gujarat.
Brothers and sisters,
Recently, many policy decisions have been taken so that farmers, patients and remote areas get maximum benefits from drone technology. A PLI scheme has also been announced so that a large number of modern drones are made in the country and India becomes self-reliant in it too. Today, I would take this opportunity to call upon the hardworking scientists, engineers, software developers and start-ups of the country to come forward to manufacture low-cost, quality drones in India. These drones have the potential to take India's destiny to new heights. The government has also decided that drones and related services will be purchased from Indian companies. This will encourage a large number of companies from home and abroad to manufacture drones in India, which will also create new jobs.
Friends,
The virtuous era of independence, that is, the next 25 years, is meant to strengthen the development journey of India with the economic might of the villages. The infrastructure related to technology is going to play a big role in this. Mobile phones and the internet are creating new opportunities for the youth of the villages. Mobile phones have become very useful in connecting farmers with new farming techniques, new crops and new markets. Today there are more internet users in the villages of India than in the cities. Now the campaign to connect all the villages of the country with optical fiber is also progressing at a faster rate. Apart from agriculture, good education and medicine,better internet facilities should be accessible to the poor of the villages and it is going to be possible.
Friends,
This campaign to transform villages through technology is not limited to just IT or digital technology. Other technologies are also being used extensively in the development of villages. New opportunities for irrigation and earning from solar energy are also being made accessible to the villages. With the help of modern research, new seeds are being made available to the farmers according to the changing season and changing demand. Efforts are being made to improve the health of animals with new and improved vaccines. With such meaningful efforts, with the active participation of the villages, with the efforts of all, we will make the full potential of the villages the basis of India's development. If the villages are empowered, then Madhya Pradesh will also be strong and so will India be. With this wish, all the very best again! The holy festival of Navratri starts from tomorrow.May this come as a blessing to all! May the country be free from corona as soon as possible! Let us also take care in this corona period and keep moving forward with our life and live life with fun. With these best wishes, thank you very much!
DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.